


Legacy

by John_Cribati



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: I am a sadistic bastard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-04 03:57:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5319560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Cribati/pseuds/John_Cribati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the day the Sea Ravens flew, he died in her place. Since that day, she lived in his stead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Legacy

"Now, tell me. Who is it? Who's the waterbender?"

This woman was stubborn. Yon Rha was almost happy for her, really. That their backwards, savage ways would lead to something so close to the honor held in high esteem at the Fire Nation.

"There are no waterbenders here. The Fire Nation took them all away a long time ago."

"You're lying. My source says there's one left in The Southern Water Tribe. We're not leaving until we find the waterbender."

Her head lowered. "If I tell you, do you promise to leave the rest of the village alone?"

Yon Rha nodded, and she took a deep breath, her decision made. "It's me. Take me instead."

Her words hung in the air, but he could sense the desperation in her tone.

"Again, you're lying.”

He marched over to the kneeling woman and roughly dragged her up by the collar. "Who. Is. The waterbender?"

Her only response was a glare.

"We can do this the easy way," Yon Rha growled, igniting a flame in his free hand, "or the hard way."

No response.

"Fine by me, but you will talk."

"Kya!"

Yon Rha turned toward the new disturbance- a man racing toward the hut- but the woman grabbed his head before he could get a good look. Her forehead slammed into his nose, forcing him to back off. She leapt on him, but he was bigger, and managed to wrench her away, slugging her across the face with an armored fist.

Just then, the previous "disturbance" made itself known in the form of a spear racing toward his ribs. He sidestepped and countered with a flaming punch that blew the savage across the room

"Dad!" A boy had chosen to challenge him this time, with some sort of toy ready to throw, but the woman, eye blackened and lip split, yelled desperately to him.

"Sokka, no! Take Katara and run!"

_So it's the girl_ , Yon Rha mused.

The boy- Sokka- did as he was told, but as Yon Rha made after them, the brute from earlier- the father of this little family- tackled him.

Yon Rha rolled and threw him off, pouncing on the warrior and bludgeoning him into submission. He got up, brushed the snow off of his armor, and nonchalantly went after the children, guided by their footsteps in the snow.

* * *

 

Katara could barely keep up with her brother as he dragged her through snowbanks and around huts, searching for a place to hide. Finally, they found a pile of logs and huddled behind it, barely breathing. The trump of heavy boots came closer and closer, until that man's voice sounded from right outside their hiding place.

"You may as well have stayed in one place. In addition to the fact that you left footprints, you picked the absolute worst place to hide from a firebender. So are you coming out on your own, or will I have to force you out?"

Katara whimpered, but Sokka shushed her.

"It's okay; I'll handle this."

He stepped out of the hiding place and faced the soldier, boomerang at the ready. Katara could see his face, stern and unafraid.

The soldier laughed.

"Please tell me you're joking. Your father didn't put up much of a fight against me." He grinned. At Sokka's expression, Katara assumed. "Oh, he's alive. He'll have a bit of a headache when he awakens, but he'll be fine."

Sokka growled and took a step forward.

"Must it all end in violence? Once I have the waterbender, my men and I will-"

CLANG!

Sokka's boomerang bounced off of the soldier's helmet and returned to his waiting hand. Katara giggled to herself.

"Fine. Have it your way."

Sokka saw the man prepare an attack, and he told himself he would face it with the honor and courage of a Water Tribe warrior. But in the end, he realized what this was. This man was older, bigger, stronger, more experienced. There was no way he could win. The fire raced toward him, ready to engulf him, and he flinched, throwing his hands up, as though it would protect him.

The burn never reached him. He opened his eyes, and saw the soldier through the hole in the wall of ice.

He had quite the hilarious look on his face, situation notwithstanding. "Y- you're the waterbender?"

Sokka nodded solemnly, willing himself to avoid looking in Katara’s direction. He knelt on the ground, holding both hands up toward his now captor. A worthy sacrifice so his sister could go free. The boots crunched in the snow as they came toward him. A large hand landed on the top of his head, sending his gaze to the ground.

"Sadly," the soldier said, "My orders are not to take prisoners."

* * *

 

Sokka started to move when he heard the sliding of metal, but by then, it was too late.

* * *

 

Yon Rha shook the blood from his dagger. Pity it had to be one so young, but orders were orders. Find waterbender, kill waterbender. He had at least tried to give him a merciful death. With both veins in the neck cut, he wouldn't last the minute. He blew on his horn, sounding a mission accomplished.

* * *

 

Katara ran to Sokka's limp form as his blood pooled on the snow. She shook him, called his name. His mouth moved, but it was like the air couldn't get to his lips past all the blood. She ignored the tears running down his face, the gut instinct that told her he was as good as gone. She could find a way. She could-

"I am sorry," the soldier muttered, "truly I am. It is always sad to see a child lose his life, but my orders-"

He trailed off, or maybe Katara stopped listening. He really thought he could justify this? What kind of warrior was he, to attack, to kill a child? What kind of nation would order someone to do that? What kind of sister was she to let Sokka die in her place? All because...

"He lied," Katara muttered. “He lied, and now he’s dead.”

Yon Rha stepped closer, leaning in to hear her. "What was that?"

In response, a geyser erupted beneath his feet, causing him to jump backward.

"He lied to you."

Katara stood and raised her hands.

He straightened into a firebending stance, but before he could throw a punch, a stream of slush collided with him from the side, throwing him off balance. Katara swung her arms wildly, calling up more snow geysers, but her attacks, while ferocious, weren't thrown with any sort of accuracy, and once the firebender found out the pattern, he rushed toward her, grabbing her by the arms and slamming her back-first against the ground.

"I really don't want to do this. You would have been so beautiful."

Pressing his hand against her chest, he raised a fist wreathed in fire.

Katara looked into the man's eyes and saw nothing but her own death staring back. It was then that she realized that there would be no true remorse, no salvation. Something inside of her snapped.

Terrified and grief-stricken, she greeted death with rage.

She screamed as loudly as her tiny lungs could, and the icy ground beneath them erupted, throwing mist into Yon Rha's face. It flash-froze, and as he reeled back, Katara took the opportunity to blast him point-blank with as much water and ice as she could.

It was... surprisingly a lot.

He was launched several feet, bouncing along the snowy ground until an igloo halted his progress. Before he could get up, Katara pulled at the wall, sending snow and ice toppling over onto his torso.

She took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. He was trapped. One of the warriors would come, and capture him, and they would know what to do. She just had to make sure he stayed trapped.

Except... the snow on top of him was melting. He was melting it, because he was a firebender. At this rate, he would escape and come after her again, try to kill her. If she ran, he'd just hurt more people to get at her. She couldn't let that happen.

It became clear in her mind.

It was him or her. One of them was going to have to die.

She looked over to her brother, faceup in the snow, staring glassily at the sky. The blood around him, slowly freezing.

This man had already made the choice to kill her.

She would have to make that same choice if she wanted to live.

If he gets up, I'm dead. If he gets up, I'm dead.

She snatched up as much of Sokka's blood as she could- not for irony's sake, but because she could only think of one way to... kill someone with water, and she needed as much as she could get her hands on. As she approached the pile of snow, she snagged some of the meltwater as well, and held the pale red mixture to his face. The snowbank began to shrink faster as he realized what she was doing, and she called more of it to her, encasing his head in a bubble of bloody water. He began to thrash as the snow became loose enough, but Katara collapsed the wall further, trapping him again.

He managed to free one hand and grab her wrist, and her sleeve began to burn in his grip. The water began to destabilize with only one hand controlling it, and in a moment borne more of desperation than skill, she froze the surface of the sphere around his head; it held up long enough for her to brace his hand back down.

She pushed, forcing the water down his nose and throat to speed up the process. She couldn't let him escape. But his lips looked like they were turning blue; she only had a bit longer to go.

Half a minute later, the water around his head began to boil, searing his own skin in his last-ditch effort to survive. Then, he slowed down. His kicking and flailing lessened. He stopped trying to grab her. His eyes rolled back in his head, and she felt as he sucked in a breath of water of his own accord.

She held him until he was still, then stayed there, fearing some sort of trick.

She let the tears fall. Tears for her brother who was lost. Tears for her family that would suffer without him. Tears for the monster she had become.

She held the water over his head long after he was dead, for what seemed like hours.

She wasn't sure who it was that found her. Wasn't sure what she said to him.

She couldn't look her parents in the eye as she explained what she’d done.

When Sokka was sent out on his final voyage, to take him to the ancestors, Katara stood vigil as his craft went out to sea.

His small boomerang was clutched in her hand. The marks of a warrior had been painted on her face.


End file.
